AIRPORT FOES REFUSE TO WITHDRAW; CITIZENS GROUP COLLECTS PETITION AGAINST EXPANSION.

Byline: Lee Condon Staff Writer

To Burbank city leaders, the war with Burbank Airport is over, and it's time to make peace.

But longtime airport warriors say the battle has just begun.

Members of a citizens group called Restore Our Airport Rights are hitting the streets to collect petition signatures from registered voters. Their goal is to place an initiative on the ballot that seeks to kill the expansion deal proposal the city has tentatively struck with the airport.

``The city wants to let the airport double its size without getting a curfew. If they make that deal, it's possible the number of passengers and number of flights will double, increasing the impact on people who live to the south and west of the airport,'' said Howard Rothenbach, chairman of ROAR. ``We're trying to preserve the quality of life for Burbank and our neighbors in Los Angeles.''

If the ROAR initiative passes, it could prevent the Burbank City Council from approving an airport expansion plan without first forcing the airport to secure a cap on flights and a mandatory curfew on flights from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.

The city is also preparing to poll voters. The council early next year plans to hold a mail-in advisory election asking voters how they feel about the expansion proposal. That vote will happen some time before the council makes a decision on the airport's expansion application, likely in April.

Burbank city leaders believe a silent majority of residents, weary of the airport battle, wants a safe and modern terminal and is satisfied with the compromise.

``We're trying to be careful not to say it's a bunch of extremist nuts who don't like it,'' said Burbank City Manager Robert ``Bud'' Ovrom. ``We know there are people who aren't nuts who don't like it.''

ROAR is convinced most Burbank residents oppose expansion and have made that clear in every election in the city since 1995. Every politician up for election in the Burbank area has said voters have consistently named their fear about airport expansion as their top concern.

It is unacceptable that the city spent $7 million in taxpayer funds on a legal battle to get a curfew, and then not to deliver on that promise, said Rothenbach, a 53-year-old railroad machinist for Union Pacific and a Burbank resident since 1973.

But Ovrom said the city's advisory vote and the initiative, if it qualifies, will make it clear whether the airport deal has popular support.

``We have always felt that 10 to 20 percent of the people adamantly hate the airport and would just as soon see it bulldozed. At the other extreme, 10 to 20 percent of the people love the airport and want to see it expanded,'' Ovrom said. ``No matter what we do, that 10 to 20 percent at either extreme is going to blast us. We've always aimed our appeal at the 60 percent in the middle.''

ROAR was created shortly after the city and the airport announced their framework deal in early August. Besides Rothenbach, the other major leader in the group is former Burbank councilman Ted McConkey, who lost his bid for a second term in the spring election.

``We are convinced this is a righteous cause,'' McConkey said. ``We are not prepared to doom the people of Burbank to noise and pollution for years and decades.''

While all the council members were warriors in the battle against Burbank Airport, McConkey was always the most strident airport basher. He had first been elected in 1995, an election seen as a mandate from local voters that blocking the airport's massive expansion plan was their top priority.

When the city and the airport started moving toward resolving their disputes earlier this year, McConkey's council career was one of the first casualties.

Since McConkey left the council in April, the airport issue has changed dramatically. The city won a major court decision that gave it leverage over the airport's expansion plans. A new majority on the traditionally pro-airport Glendale City Council came out in favor of Burbank's request for a mandatory curfew. And, the airport was forced into talks with the city because of a tight court deadline to make a land purchase needed for the expansion.

On the day Burbank Mayor Stacey Murphy and Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority President Carl Meseck announced the terms of the proposed framework deal, McConkey declared it a betrayal. While city officials are now working closely with their former enemies over at the airport, McConkey is still fighting.

McConkey said he can be more effective off the council than on now that he's been freed from dealing with the ``Mickey Mouse'' issues one has to cope with on the panel.

``I think perhaps the voters did me a favor,'' McConkey said. ``Now I can devote myself to the few things I think are crucial to the well-being of this city.''

Burbank City Clerk Judie Sarquiz said in order to force a special election, ROAR must turn in 7,749 signatures of registered voters by March 20. That represents 15 percent of the city's registered voters.

ROAR officials hope to turn in their signatures well before the March 20 deadline so their initiative can get on the ballot as soon as possible. Their goal is to have the city vote on the issue before the council makes its decision on airport expansion in April.

Rothenbach, 53, said ROAR has already collected 1,700 signatures, focusing mostly on homes directly under the Burbank Airport flight path.

``The residents are really happy to see us,'' Rothenbach said.

The goal is not to kill the airport expansion deal but to get the curfew and flight caps that Burbank promised its residents, Rothenbach said. ROAR members support the building of a safe, modern terminal that is accessible to the disabled.

``The courts have said we have won. Now that we're in control (city officials) want to be nice guys and give it all away,'' Rothenbach said.

But city officials believe they have succeeded in blocking the former massive expansion plan. Originally, the airport wanted to build a 460,000-square-foot terminal with 19 to 27 gates. Under the proposed agreement, the airport would build a smaller 330,000-square-foot terminal with just 14 gates, the same number in place at the current terminal.

The rub is the curfew. ROAR members say the airport should not be allowed to grow one inch until it secures a curfew from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Under the framework deal, the airport would be able to build a terminal double its current size. The airport does not have to secure a curfew until it wants to expand from 14 to 16 gates.

Victor Gill, a spokesman for the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, said Rothenbach is wrong when he suggests that adding square footage to the terminal building will automatically lead to an increase in passengers and flights.

``There is no relationship that is quantifiable between the size of the building and the number of people using an airport,'' Gill said.

Moreover, while the airport has projected it will be serving 10 million passengers in the next 10 to 20 years. However, Gill notes the airport is running behind those projections now. In 1998, the airport expected to have 5.4 million passengers but had 4.7 million. In the same year, the airport expected to have 72,000 flights, but instead had 63,000, Gill said.

Burbank City Councilman Bob Kramer said he still has not made up his mind about the city's proposed deal with the airport. He'll make his decision after the city holds its mail-in advisory vote on the issue.